


The Return of the Old Gods

by Majestic_Moonwolf



Category: DCU, Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: Family Drama, Mythology - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23277280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majestic_Moonwolf/pseuds/Majestic_Moonwolf
Summary: Strange things are happening in the world about a hundred years after the first world war. Sightings of monsters have been reported and the temples of the Old Gods seem to radiate with a strange power. Diana's family is rising again, and now she has to learn to fit in.
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue

Themyscira, January 2018

It was at the beginning of a new year that one of my amazons came to me. "Queen Hippolyta, something... strange is happening at the temples," she said. "What is it?" I asked. "The statues, their eyes are lighting up. Or, well, they're flickering." "Flickering?" "Yes,. My Queen, they're flickering. Do you have any idea as to what this could mean?" Of course I did, but the eyes of the statues hadn't been lit for thousands of years, well, all except for one, of course. Ares... His eyes had only gone out recently, about a hundred years ago. I nodded, "Yes, I think I know what this could mean." "What is it, my Queen?" "Trouble, and a whole lot of it."


	2. The return to Themyscira

Paris, France, March 2020

For me it started on a normal day, the second of March I think it was, not so long ago. It started as any ordinary day, it wasn't until close to closing time that things started to get... weird. A little boy was standing in front of a statue of Zeus as I was walking around to look at the state of all statues and weapons and whatnot, he was looking at it attentively and at first I thought it was sweet that a young child seemed to be so interested in the Greek mythology, but then he turned to his mother and said, "Look mommy, the eyes are lighting up." "Oh Peter, don't you have a lot of fantasy, sweetie?" "No mommy, they're really lighting up!" The child sounded a little mad that his mother didn't want to believe him. "Sure honey, the museum is about to close, how about we leave and look for the nearest McDonalds, huh?" "YES! MCDONALDS!" The child seemed to have forgotten about the statue's eyes, his mind was now focused on thin fries and other unhealthy food. My mind however, was now focused completely on said statue as I walked over to it to inspect it more closely.

"Diana? What are you still doing here? We're almost closing," Jules, one of the guards said as he saw me standing in front of the statue. "Huh?" He smiled at me, his eyes lighting up a little, "I said, "we're almost closing". You should go home, Diana." I turned to the statue again, it's eyes were flickering with this strange light, and... Was that a spark? "Diana?" "Yeah, home. I should go." "Are you okay?" I turned to him and smiled, "I am, yes, but thank you for your concern." His troubles seemed to have been put at ease for now, "Good, that's good. Uh, well, get homes safely." "Thank you," I gave him another smile, then I turned my back to him and the statue and I left them both behind.

All the way home I couldn't stop thinking about what I had seen. It had been so strange, none of the statues had ever shown this kind of... behavior before, which sounds logical, since they're only statues, or at least so everyone thought. My mother had once told me that no statues of the Old Gods had ever been ordinary statues. They had always been connected to the Gods... nut that was when the Gods had been alive. Now the Gods were dead, they had been dead for thousands of years, or at least most of them had been. Ares died only a little more than a hundred years before, I had killed him myself. I sighed. I never liked thinking of Ares, of what he had done... He didn't trust humanity and because of that he had tried to make them murder each other, so they would go extinct, so the Gods would rule again. But for that he had had to kill all the other Gods first, including my father, Zeus.

I arrived home, still thinking of the eyes of the Zeus statue, and mindlessly turned on the news, trying to distract myself. It didn't help much, or not at all, actually, for the news was full of weird... sightings. Some woman in Athens claimed to have seen a huge black dog with red glaring eyes. A man in Volos said he had seen a palomino centaur. Several people throughout Greece said they had seen what seemed to be a human with goat legs and one woman from Agrinio even claimed to have seen the Minotaur. I sighed, sadly, this wasn't anything new, people had claimed to see monsters throughout Greece for two years now. Mostly those people were questioned thoroughly and then some report would come out that said that those people were delusional, or drunk or maybe even on drugs. I doubted if what was standing in those reports were the truth, especially after what I had seen tonight.

"Sightings of these so called "monsters" are staring to move out of Greece, which means either Greece is selling drugs or it's some contagious disease, what do you say, Carol?" "I don't know, Steve, I sure do hope it's not a disease though, I'm planning to go on vacation to Italy this year." "Yeah, would be a real bummer if it were some disease. Anyway, a woman from Volterra claims to have seen what she described as a beautiful woman with pale skin and one shaggy donkey leg, at least she thought it was a donkey leg, she wasn't sure. I don't see how it matters though, I mean, who would come up with the fantasy of such an abomination?" "Right, it was probably just a young woman that forgot to shave one of her legs because she was late for work don't you think, Steve?" "Yeah, she should probably shave it soon, the weather in Italy is too nice to be ruined by the view of a woman with a hairy leg. Hairy legs are gross." "In that case maybe you should shave your legs for once, Steve." I chucked, despite what was going on, Carol calling Steve out on his sexism was still a little funny. That's when my phone started ringing.

"Diana Prince," I said as I picked up without looking who was calling me. "This is getting out of hand," Bruce's voice sounded from the other side. "You mean the monster sightings?" "I hear you have seen the news." "Yeah, watching over the world since 1917." "Of course. Diana, do you have any idea what that creature in Italy could have been?" I sighed, "From the description? I think it must be an empousa." "A what?" "A female demon, basically some kind of vampire with a donkey leg." "Wait it's actually a donkey leg." "Not the point Bruce." "I know. What do you think is go-," Bruce stopped in the middle of his sentence, "Diana, they're talking about the Louvre." I turned up the volume. "A young boy claimed to have seen the eyes of a Zeus statue light up," Carol said. "The real question here is, why would any parent take their six year old son to see a bunch of statues of mostly or fully naked people." "Show a little respect, Steve," I mumbled. "It's ridiculous, seriously, what was up with the ancient Greeks? Seems they were all quite horny, huh?" "Steve, we're live." "Oh, yeah... Anyway, Europe is going nuts."

"Diana?" Bruce's voice sounded again, "Have you noticed anything weird about the statues?" "Just Zeus." "So... the same thing as the little boy?" "I saw... sparks shooting from his eyes as well." "Sparks... Diana, do you have any idea what this means?" "I'm afraid that I don't, but... I might know someone who does." "Might?" "Well, I know someone of whom I'm about 80 percent sure that she knows what's going on... there's only one question." "And that is?" "Will she accept me when I come to speak with her?" "Are you talking about..?" "Yes." Queen Hippolyta, my mother.

I know it sounds weird to question whether or not my mother would want to talk to me, but, a hundred years ago I left against her orders... that wasn't why I was basically exiled though, it was to keep the location of the island a secret from the rest of the world, for if anyone would know about the island, they might want to hurt me through hurting the Amazons and that was something I would rather not risk... But I couldn't talk to my mother without going back home to Themyscira. "Bruce, I will need your help with this." "My help?" "Yes... I need your technology, to make sure no one is following me." "I see. I'll get you a submarine with the right equipment. Would your mother take it as an insult if I came along?" "She might." "Should I come along?" "I don't know how a submarine works." "I'll come along. Anyone else?" "Maybe Arthur..." "Why?" "He's the King of Atlantis." "He is." "Atlanteans and Amazons have joined forces before and I do think the Atlanteans would like to know what is going on as well. My mother would not take it as an insult if he would come along. On the contrary even, I think. It's been very long since an Atlantean has visited Themyscira." "How long?" "Let's just say I wasn't born yet." "That's long." "I told you, didn't I?" "Just... call Arthur if he'd like to come along to some mythical island this Saturday, okay?" "You think I should call him? I think he'd be much happier if you called," I teased, "I mean, who wouldn't love to go on an underwater pleasure cruise with the broody Bruce Wayne." "I'm not broody." "True, you're not just broody, you're very broody." He sighed, "Have a good, it's night there now, right? Have a good night Diana," he said and hung up.

I sighed and called Arthur, "You better pick up...," I mumbled. "I better what?" "Oh, you heard that, so you're not underwater at the moment." "Yeah, you got lucky, I was just about to take a dive." "I see, have you seen the news?" "I have, have you noticed anything weird recently?" "Anything weird, like, monsters? Not on land no." "Not on land?" "No, not on land, but underwater..." "What have you seen?" "Some hippocampi, and something I'm pretty sure was a kraken." "Sounds like fun. Wanna help me find out why these monsters keep appearing everywhere?" "Well, it would put my people at ease if they knew what was going on." "I thought so too." "But where will we go to do so, and how?" "Themyscira, with a submarine of Bruce." "Is Bruce coming too?" "Yes." "Yay. Now, what is Themyscira?" "As the King of Atlantis you should know that." "I haven't been the King for that long." "It's the island of the Amazons." "The Amazons and the Atlanteans have worked together in the past, right?" "They have, which is why they might accept you setting foot on their island." "Might?" I smiled, sometimes it was fun teasing those boys. "Yeah, might." He sighed, "Well... if it would put my people at ease. I take it I can't send anyone else?" "We'll be having an audience with the Queen of Themyscira, so, better not." "Wait, the Queen. Really?" "She's my mother, Arthur." "Oh, yes, right. So, an Amazon, Batsy and the King of Atlantis are going to Themyscira on a submarine." "You make it sound like the beginning of a bad joke." "You're welcome." "But I take it you will be joining us?" "I will, just give me a time and date... well, and a place." "Can I call you back tomorrow?" "Sure." "Good. Hey Arthur." "Yeah?" "Try not to drown." He scoffed, "Yeah, I'll make sure of that. Maybe you should go to bed, you sound very tired, telling the King of Atlantis to "try not to drown"." "Good night." "Yeah, good night."

That night both my dinner and my nights rest were pretty restless. I kept turning under the blankets, wondering what was going on, comping up with the most ridiculous ideas. That's what happens to most humans I think. Something crazy happens and everyone immediately thinks the worst, do they not? I sighed as I stared at my ceiling, thinking of what could be and hoping that I was wrong. "Well, I guess we'll see... eventually. This Saturday, with some luck, with a little less luck it would be coming Sunday... or Monday." I wasn't sure if I could wait that long for the answers to my questions.

*

The week passed, very slowly, but it passed and eventually it was Saturday. Friday night I had taken a plane to Greece, where I would meet Bruce in Athens, from where he would bring me to his submarine, because we had to keep the location of said submarine as secret as possible. We took a very scenic route, to shake off any potential followers. Alfred, who was driving, seemed to think Bruce was being too cautious and rolled his eyes every time Bruce told him to drive through a small picturesque village or sighed when Bruce told him to double back and take a slightly different route this time. "Bruce, don't you think you are overdoing it a little bit? I mean, no one knows where we're going, right? Just you, me and Arthur." "Yes, but you never know who might be following us." "Why would anyone follow us without knowing where we're going?" "The Joker... liked to follow me around, the maniac, he could be behind us this very moment." "Bruce, there is no car in sight. We haven't seen any other cars or living souls for miles." "Miss Prince has a point, Master Wayne, you are greatly overdoing this. If the Joker had been following us we would have known." Bruce sighed, "Fine, Alfred, get us to the submarine, quickly." "Finally," Alfred whispered as he sped up the car, "I thought you'd never give that order." "Thanks for the support, Alfred." "You're welcome master Wayne."

It took us another half hour to get to the base where the submarine was located. Of course this was a submarine base owned by Wayne enterprises. "Bruce, is there anything you don't have?" I asked. "A woman," Alfred said. Bruce sighed. "Seriously, Alfred?" "I'm just answering her question, master Wayne." "Just... go home, Alfred. Thank you for bringing us here." "You're welcome, master Wayne." And just like that, Alfred got back in the car and rode off. "You could be a little nicer to him," I told Bruce. "I thanked him, that's nice enough." "Did he do anything wrong?" "Well... he said..." Bruce sighed, "It's not wrong to tell the truth, but it can be annoying, okay?" "I guess."

"What's the annoying truth we're talking about?" Arthur said out of nowhere. "Where did you come from?" Bruce asked him. "The sea." "How long have you been here?" "I just got here, your submarine base looks nice from the inside." "Oh God, please tell me you didn't make the alarm go off!" "I... might have broken your alarm." "Will you guys stop breaking my alarms!" Bruce growled. "Do you know how expensive those things are?" "Bruce, you're a billionaire, quit whining," I told him. "They even look expensive Diana, you said so yourself." "I remember that, yes." "This one seemed quite old, really," Arthur brought up, "I have to admit I think I did you a favor." Bruce sighed, "Unbelievable... that's what you guys are...." "Thank you," Arthur said, "now will you please show us around your not so very impressive submarine base?" I sighed, "Arthur, you're a King, will you please behave like one? And no, Bruce has no time to show us around his submarine base, impressive or no, we are in a hurry." "Then why did it have to wait till Saturday?" "Because we have jobs we need to go to, Curry," Bruce told him. "Ah, yeah, I see." "Can we please leave now?" "Wow, the ever so patient Wonder Woman is getting impatient." "Arthur...." "Yeah, yeah, behave like a King." "Thank you."

We all got on the submarine, and from that moment on Arthur started calling Bruce "Captain Wayne". To this day I am still not sure if Bruce liked it or not. "So, Captain Wayne, has Diana given you the coordinates?" Bruce shook his head, "No, she hasn't, not yet... Diana, what are the coordinates." Well, this is going to be fun, I thought. "Well... the island itself doesn't exactly have coordinates... I mean... I can give you... coordinates that are close but..." "Then please just do that, then I'll surface once we have reached those coordinates so you and Fish Curry can get out. Then I'll wait for you where you left me." "Did he just call me Fish Curry?" I rolled my eyes, "Children," I whispered, then I gave Bruce the coordinates he needed. And we went on our way.

Of course, as we went, we were followed by a small school of fish, which included two sharks. Bruce told Arthur to tell them to back off. "They're just escorting us, Captain Wayne." "Just escorting us... and possibly drawing attention to us." "You think?" "Diana, if you would see this group of fish, what would you think?" "I'd think something fishy would be going on." Arthur chuckled, "Something fishy," he whispered sounding amused. "Yes, so would a whole lot of other people. Tell the fish to go away, Arthur." "Fine, the fish will go." The fish left, I don't really know how Arthur told them to leave, but they left. "Interesting," I whispered. Arthur shrugged, "It's normal for me. They will leave us alone now, and they'll tell other fish to not to linger around our ship for too long." "My ship, and it's a submarine." "No Batmarinne, Bat-submarine, Batarine?" "Arthur..." "Yes, yes, more Kingly." "Thank you." "You're welcome."

The rest of the submarine ride was quite silent, especially as we got closer to the coordinates I had given Bruce. I got more nervous too. "Diana, are you okay?" Arthur asked me at one point. "Huh?" "You look a little... pale." "Oh, do I?" "Yeah, you do." "I'm fine." "Are you sure?" "Yes... I'm just... nervous." "To speak with your mom, or to hear the truth about what's going on?" "Both." "Okay, I see, but why would you be nervous about having to speak with your mother?" "Well, the last time I saw her... she wasn't very happy about me leaving." "So... you're afraid you are on bad terms?" "I'm not sure, maybe... Of course they contacted us when Steppenwolf was coming, but that was a threat to the world." "Well, maybe this is a threat to the world as well." "Arthur, it's been going on for months now, if it were a threat... don't you think the Amazons would have sent a sign by now?" "Maybe, or maybe they're not sure if it's a threat yet." "What if it's only a threat to the amazons? Or to everything from ancient Greece?" "I'm sure they would have contacted you in that case." I sighed, "I hope so." "Diana, she's your mother, and if there is one thing mothers do it's loving their children, unconditionally, okay?" I sighed, looked up at him and nodded, "Okay." He was right, but I was still afraid of facing my mother. I felt like a disobedient child that wasn't sure if she was going to be punished or not, for what she had done had also made her go through something awful. Like a kid that had climbed onto the roof of the shed after their mother had said no and she had still done it and had fallen off... "I really hope you're right."

"We're here," Bruce spoke not even half an hour later. "I'll resurface here so the two of you can get out and swim to the island." I nodded, "Yes, we know the plan, Bruce." "Good, I'll just wait for the two of you to come back then." "Yeah, have fun here all by yourself, Captain Wayne." "Will do, Fish Curry." "Boys," I whispered.

The submarine/Batmarine/Bat-submarine/Batarine resurfaced and Arthur and I got out and jumped into the water and swam away. Not much later Arthur turned to me, he was going to say something, but then his expression changed into one of confusion, "When did you have time to change your outfit?" "I was wearing it under my clothes." "And... your clothes are..." "On the submarine, yes." "I see. And, why?" "Because now I look like an Amazon." "I suppose that's important. What's in the bag?" "A cloak." "Why?" "It's cold this time of year." "I... I see. That's smart of you, you got anything in there for me?" "Another cloak." "Good, thank you." "You're welcome, now... since I'm an Atlantean I am pretty sure I can swim faster than you..." "You can indeed." "Yeah, one thing I'm better at than you huh? I can't beat you at arm wrestling, but I can beat you in a swimming game. Anyway, hang on." "What?" "Well, since I'm faster I could get us there faster. Hang on." "Hang on to what?" "Just hold on to my shoulders, okay?" "Uh, yes, okay." I hung onto his shoulders. "Not very comfortable touching a half-naked man?" "Just swim, Arthur." "Okay, will do." And swim he did. Lucky for me I'm strong, otherwise I might not have been able to hold on.

It didn't take us long to breach through the barrier that shield Themyscira from the human eye, or any other eye. Arthur stopped quite suddenly and because of that I bumped into him. "Oof." He now seemed to realize I was still "hanging on". "Oh, sorry about that. I almost forgot you were there. I uh... stopped to see what this place looks like. It's beautiful." I looked over his shoulder, "Yes, it really is, isn't it?" "You... grew up here?" "I lived here for thousands of years, yes." "That must have been quite... wonderful." "It was... but it was hard too. I spent many years training." "I see... so...I guess we should go ashore, huh?" "Yes, we should."

We slowly swam to shore, where we laid in the sun for a while, trying to dry ourselves a little. "It's not as cold as I thought it would be," I said. "Forgot what the weather is like here?" "No, but it could have been that it had changed." "I guess." "We should put on the cloaks and see if we can find someone." "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." We got up, put on our cloaks and looked around. "I take it you know the way to the castle from here?" Arthur asked me. "Of course I do." "I thought you would say that." "Good. Now follow me," I said as I walked off. "Seems like I don't have a choice."

Sadly we didn't get far without being spotted, for as we were making our way to the cliff wall close to the beach suddenly an arrow sprouted out of the sand only an inch in front of my foot. "There we go," I mumbled. "What the?" Arthur said. Then suddenly we were surrounded by Amazons. Who demanded to know our names and our business. "I'm Arthur Curry, the King of Atlantis," Arthur said as he moved forward, "I have come to talk to your Queen. This woman is my friend." "Were you followed?" "No, we weren't, I made sure of that." I wondered why Arthur hadn't given them my name, maybe he thought they wouldn't bring me to my mother if they knew who I was, because I had basically banished myself from the island.

Surprisingly, they did actually bring us to the castle, without demanding my name again. Someone, my aunt Menalippe, wife to my late aunt Antiope, knocked on the door to the throne room. It opened immediately. "My Queen, the King of Atlantis has come here to speak with you," Menalippe announced. "Bring him in," my mother replied. "He has an envoy with him, what shall we do with her?" "Is she important?" "We don't know." "She is," Arthur spoke. "Let her in as well then." "Yes, my Queen." Arthur and I were let into the throne room. Nothing had changed, since I had left, except for the general at my mother's side. She hadn't picked a new general yet, before I had left, so I still remembered her with my aunt Antiope at her side. Now it was Menalippe who moved to my mother's side, to stand there and guard her.

"So, you are the new King of Atlantis?" my mother asked Arthur. "Yes, I am, Arthur Curry, son of Atlanna, you... might not know her, I heard it's been years since an Atlantean visited Themyscira." "You have a last name... a human custom." "My father is a human, I have inherited the throne from my mother, who was the Queen... as her eldest son." "I see... and your... envoy... she radiates a power I have not seen in any Atlantean... Who is she really?" Arthur looked to me, "She is the reason we came here." "The reason you came here." "Yes... see, we have come to talk about the crazy disturbances that are going on throughout Europe, mostly Greece and Italy, but they're spreading, yesterday someone found a satyr in the south of France." Mother... the Queen sighed, "So the mortal world is starting to notice, but what has she got to do with it?" "I...," I began "I have seen these crazy disturbances for myself, the eyes of... of the statues of the Greek gods are lighting up. I have heard stories about these statues, that they are never just statues... that they are connected to the Greek gods." "And who told you these stories?" I lowered the hood of my cloak, "You did."

And audible gasp went through the room. Was this really such a surprise? I wondered. "Diana," my mother said softly. "Yes." "You have come back." "Yes." "I told you-," "I know what you told me, but I need answers." The Queen had started to get up from the throne, but she sat back down now. "Answers?" "Yes, my Queen, answers." She nodded, "I see..." Menalippe looked confused, "My Queen, forgive me, but I thought she couldn't come back." "Yes, so did I," the Queen replied. "How-," "I don't know." "With the help of some friends," I said. "Do not worry, I made sure we weren't followed. I know that what I am doing is dangerous, but I am still here." "Which means that this is urgent," the Queen assumed. I nodded, "It is." "Good, ask me your questions, Diana of Themyscira." Arthur looked at me, he seemed surprised and glad that this didn't turn into a fight. I shrugged.

"The crazy disturbances," I said after some thinking, "did they start here?" "Yes, they did, why?" "It just... seems obvious to me, since this place is still connected with ancient Greece, and it leads up to my next question." "Which is?" "When?" "When did it start?" "Yes." "A little more than two years ago." "Two years ago?" "Yes..." I nodded. Two years... and no warning, I thought. "How did it start?" "The way you described, with the eyes of the statues lighting up. Monsters did not appear here, they cannot breach the borders of Themyscira." I nodded, "I see." "Any more questions?" "Yes... one more. That comes from both me and Arthur." My mother turned to Arthur for a second, then her attention went back to me, "Go ahead." "What is it that we are dealing with? Is it a threat? A danger to humans?" The Queen sighed, "In some ways it is and in some ways it isn't." "That doesn't really answer my question, my Queen." "I know." "I want to know what this is?" "It's... it's the other half of your family, Diana..." "What?" "It's the gods... they have come back. And with them have come the monsters."

I would be lying if I had said that I had not seen it coming, for it was what I had feared was going on. It was the only thing that made sense to me. But... why now? Why did this start two years ago? Had it been because all the gods had been gone for at least a hundred years. Could the gods reform only if all of them were dead... if all of them were dead for a hundred years? I had so many more questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weird as I am I have chosen to provide a list of actors who I think the gods look like, yes Aphrodite can change form for she is the Goddess of beauty and there are different kinds of beauty:  
> Zeus: Chris Hemsworth  
> Hera: Cate Blanchett   
> Hades: Tom Hiddleston   
> Poseidon: Colin O'Donoghue   
> Apollo: Tom Holland   
> Artemis: Sabrina Carpenter  
> Ares: David Thewlis  
> Aphrodite: Scarlett Johannson  
> Chloe Bennett   
> Ming-Na Wen  
> Margot Robbie   
> Natalie Dormer  
> Nathalie Emmanuel   
> Emilia Clarke  
> Zoe Saldana  
> Lana Parrilla  
> Rebecca Mader  
> Tessa Thompson  
> Brie Larson  
> Evangeline Lily  
> Cobie Smulders   
> Karen Gillan  
> Nike: Lupita Nyong'o   
> Hermes: Jude Law  
> Demeter: Beyonce   
> Persephone: Zendaya   
> Hephaestus: Peter Dinklage  
> Hestia: Bryce Dallas Howard   
> Athena: Hayley Atwell  
> Hypnos: Micheal Sheen  
> Nemesis: Danai Gurira   
> Hecate: Elizabeth Olson  
> Dionysus: RDJ  
> Iris: Evanna Lynch  
> Asclepius: Eddie Redmayne   
> Thanatos: Idris Elba  
> So that's it, that's the list, I'm crazy, I know


	3. The Eldest God

The Queen looked at me, she saw the confusion on my face, "I know this must come as quite a shock to you, Diana, but it's the truth." "How... how is this happening?" "I asked myself that too, many times even, but I still haven't found an answer to that question." "How are you so sure of this?" "Because... it feels like... what it felt like back then. You probably don't remember, since you were too young, when the gods died. You grew up in a world without them." "But... now I'm going to have to live in a world with them..." "Yes, you are." "How?" "I cannot tell you that, you'll have to find out for yourself. They're your family, not mine. It's true that Zeus has created me... us... but that doesn't make us family. You however, you are his daughter. You will have to find out where you fit in... if you wish to." "And... what if I don't wish to." The Queen smiled, but it was a sad smile, "I am afraid you don't actually have a choice, Diana." I sighed, "I see. I will have to face my family." "Keep them in check, make sure they... won't try to take over the world." "That's going to be hard, isn't it?" "They're fallen gods, they weren't around when people stopped believing in them and they probably have big egos. Yes, it's going to be hard and maybe even dangerous." "If it's dangerous, why haven't you reached out yet?" "We didn't know that this had reached the mortal world yet... and we didn't know about the monsters." "I see..." "Diana." "Yes?" "I know you will be capable of stopping the gods from bringing their wrath upon this planet." "How can you be so sure of that?" "Because you are one of them." "Only half..." "It's enough... it has to be."

The Queen stood up, "You're all dismissed now." Everyone walked towards the door. "Everyone but you, Diana." Of course. I stopped in my tracks. As everyone filed out of the room Arthur turned to me. "I'll be okay," I said softly. "It's my mother, she won't hurt me." He nodded, turned back around and walked off. There was a long silence, then, "Diana, turn around." I turned to face the Queen. She was sitting on her throne, but she was leaning back, looking more relaxed and just like that she had turned from the Queen into my mother. "Come over here, please." I walked over to my mother, still not sure as to what was going to happen. Would she be angry at me for coming back? She stood up, opened her arms for em and I for some reason let myself "fall" into her embrace. "My sweet sweet daughter," she whispered. "It's been so long." I nodded, "Yes, it has been." "Still, you haven't changed." "Neither have you." We both leaned back to look at each other, "Yet you have seen a lot of change, haven't you? On the outside you are still the same, but on the inside..." I nodded, "The world of man has changed a lot over the past century... but me... Well... there are less things I take for granted, like love, safety and the guarantee of a long life." "You have become wiser." "I have." "I have learned to believe in things... In love..." My mother smiled at me, "That's good... you'll need that." "I... I will?" "Yes, you will. Diana, you are facing what might be the biggest task that you will ever face... Get the gods to make amends. Or at least Ares. You need to help the gods make peace amongst each other, and you need to help them keep that peace." "I... I have to?" "Yes. See, the gods aren't always on good terms, despite being a family." "I see..." "You're going to have to talk to Ares again... you do realize that, right?" I sighed, "I'll do what I have to do. If it ensures the safety of humanity... I'll talk to Ares." Mother nodded, "I'm glad to hear you say that, Diana." She smiled at me, "I'm so proud of you, Diana," she whispered.

"Now, about the gods..." "Do you know where they are?" "We... only know the location of one of them. The eldest of the Gods." "Hestia." "Your aunt. The eldest daughter of Rhea and Kronos. The Goddess of the Hearth, the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state." "Wow." "You'll need her by your side if you want to reunite your Godly family." "I understand. So, where is she located?" "She's... well... walk with me."

I was surprised, but I did it anyway, "Mother," I said as we were walking out of the castle, "I thought you were about to tell me where Hestia is." "I was, I still am." "But... then why are we... doing this?" "Is it wrong if I want to spend some time with my daughter before she has to leave?" "I... No, it's not, I want to spend time with you too, but this is urgent, isn't it?" "It is, and it isn't." "What?" "Well, the Gods haven't destroyed the planet yet, which means that they probably haven't figured out that they have fallen from grace yet." "But they... can find out any second. You need to tell me where Hestia is." "Oh... but that's what I'm doing. Let's go this way." "To the temples?" This is getting more confusing by the second. "Yes, I thought you'd like to see what they look like now." "Mother." "Diana, you will see..." I sighed, sometimes there is just no reasoning with your parents it seems.

We reached the temples not much later. The first temple was the temple of Zeus, the temple of Hera next to it. Then Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares and Dionysus, after that we had Hades, Persephone, Hecate, Nemesis, Nike, Iris, Hypnos, Thanatos and all the way at the end, the smallest temple, the temple of Hestia. I had always thought it was unfair that she had the smallest temple of all, especially since she was the eldest of the Gods and actually the first Olympian... but she gave up her place on Olympus for my brother, Dionysus.

We walked all the way to the last temple, there my mother stopped. "It's small, isn't it?" I nodded, "Yes." "Quite unfair, don't you think? Of course, a smaller temple is easier to keep warm when all you have is a hearth fire." "I... guess, yes." "Go inside," my mother told me. I turned to her, "Alone?" Strange things could happen in the temples, especially now that the Gods were... well... back. Or so I assumed. "Yes, alone. There's no reason for you to be afraid, Diana." I nodded. "Go inside." I went inside.

The temple looked bigger on the inside, which seemed quite impressive, since it was really quite small from the outside. It was like there was magic in play, and maybe that was the truth of it. In the middle of the back wall of the temple there was a giant statue, a statue of Hestia, obviously. Between her feet was a huge hearth. "Well, as if it wasn't obvious what she's the Goddess of when you walk into the temple," I mumbled to myself. It was, really, as soon as you walked into the temple you felt like you were home, it felt warm... and you got the feeling of wanting to hug your family and just... be with them. There sure was some kind of magic in play here.

I walked over to the statue to warm my hands at the hearth fire, for I didn't know what else to do. As I stood there I looked up at the statue that loomed over me, "At least she looks quite friendly," I mumbled. "But why did my mother send me in here?" I wondered out loud. "This day just keeps getting stranger and stranger and no one is giving me any straight answers." My words echoed through the temple, bouncing back off the walls. "Well, being here isn't very helpful, is it? I need to protect the world, but here I am, warming my hands at a stupid hearth fire! What's the use of this?"

"You seem quite impatient," a sudden voice spoke behind me. I turned around to face the speaker. "Also, it's not very nice of you to call a hearth fire stupid. It might not seem too dangerous, but... well, if you don't pay enough attention to it..." She left her sentence unfinished. "You have come here looking for answers, haven't you? About your family?" I nodded. "Well?" I suddenly found it hard to speak, for standing in front of me was a smaller, less marble, red haired version of the statue I had just been looking at. "You're... you're Hestia." "I am aware." "You... are here." "I'm aware of that too, Diana." "You... how do you know my name?" "I'm a Goddess, don't question it. Besides, you're a daughter of my brother..." "I... But you never met me..." Hestia rolled her eyes, "You're quite good at being obvious, I can feel your aura though. It's kind of a God thing. You can feel it too, if you try..." "Uuuh..." Hestia smiled, "You are very confused, aren't you?" I nodded. "I can imagine. I mean, not so long ago you only had... one aunt left. I'm sorry for your loss, Antiope was a good woman. A very good warrior too." "Yes... she was," I said sadly. She looked at me with a hint of sympathy in her eyes, "It hurts, doesn't it? Losing those who are closest to you? Losing your family..." She sighed, "I do know what that is like." She suddenly looked incredibly sad, which made sense, since she is the Goddess of family. And she had lost it. "Oh well, we don't have time to relive what happened in the past... my family is back now.... That's fun." She sounded mildly sarcastic. "You're not... happy with that?" I asked her. "Diana... you have heard the stories, haven't you? My family is... quite a mess. And, that's just putting it lightly."

She was right, I had heard the stories of the Gods... some of them had made quite a few messes... my father, sadly, had made most of those messes. Why? Well, let's just say that most of the heroes were his children. Doesn't sound too bad, huh? Well, heroes, in Greek mythology are demigods, half human, half God. It meant he had slept with quite a few humans... which was really bad, since he was married to the Goddess of marriage, Hera. She got angry at him quite a lot, which I do understand. "I... have heard the stories, yes." "Good." "There's a lot of... anger between several of the Gods, isn't there?" "Yes, take Athena and Poseidon for example." Both Athena and Poseidon had wanted to become the patron God of Athens. The Athenians had chosen Athena. "You think he's still angry over that?" "Oh, please, Poseidon is one of what people call the "Big Three" one of the most important Gods. He's never going to let that "slight" go." "The Big Three?" "Zeus, Poseidon and Hades... You never heard that term before?" "No... I haven't." "Lucky you." "Huh?" "Oh well, it's just... quite the weird nickname for the three of them if you ask me." Of course, Hestia was... is, their older sister, but she doesn't really seem like the person to get jealous. Maybe it's just... an older sister thing... "I see." "Anyway, that doesn't really matter. What matters is that we're all back and that we need to reconcile with each other. That's going to be fun." "Yeah... and I'm... going to have to make that happen, don't I?" "Yes, but not on your own of course, I'm coming with you." "You are?" "Well, since you're bringing the family back together you could as well have the Goddess of family on your side, right?" "That... makes sense, yes." "Besides, I'm getting tired of staying in this temple all the time. I mean... you try staring at your own huge face cut out in marble for days. It's no fun." "I... guess." "Well... let's get out of here then."

Well, this day was not at all going the way I expected it to go. I thought my mother would get angry at me for coming here, yet she didn't and now I was leaving the temple of Hestia with Hestia herself. How was I even going to explain this to Arthur? Let alone to Bruce... My mother was still waiting for us outside the temple. "I see you have decided to leave, Hestia." Hestia nodded, "I have. It was nice to be here, but I'll be of more help to your daughter now." Mother nodded, "I am glad you'll be going with her." "Oh well, I was getting sick and tired of being in that temple. Sure, I love being reminded of who and what I am... but... it gets a little annoying and frankly quite boring to be reminded of it all the time," she said as she created a little flame that danced over the palm of her hand. I only now realized that it had gotten dark. "How... how long have I been gone?" I asked my mother. "A few hours." "What?" "Time moves differently inside the temples, you know that, Diana." Oh, right, I had forgotten that. How could I have forgotten that? "Will you stay here tonight?" Mother asked. "Or will you be leaving in the dark of the night?" "I... our friend, who brought me and Arthur here, he's waiting for us." "We can allow him in for the night, but only for the night." "In that case... I would like to stay, but only for one night." "Wait, does this mean I have to stay in the temple for another night?" Hestia asked sounding irritated. Mother smiled, "You can stay in the castle, if you'd like. It would be an honor to have you there, Hestia." "Thank the Go... Yeah I'm one of them, thank me." I chuckled, Hestia didn't seem to be too bad.

Bruce was admitted to the island and was appointed to a guest room in the castle, which he had to share with Arthur. Neither of them was very happy with this arrangement. They weren't the only ones who had to share their room though. I had to share mine with my aunt, Hestia. Of course, instead of thinking of this as annoying I had to see this as a great honor. I'm not sure if I really did see it as such. Sure, Hestia was nice, but I only knew her for half a day. Then again... I had shared a small boat and one blanket with a man who I knew for about the same amount of time a little more than a hundred years ago... And I had never regretted that once in my life. Well... that wasn't true, not really. I have regretted getting close to Steve Trevor a few times, especially the first few weeks after he had died. But I had never really regretted my feelings for him. Love and grief are strange like that.

That night I had trouble sleeping again, like I had had for the past week and it seemed like I wasn't the only one. "Are you still awake?" Hestia asked me. "I am," I said. "Can't sleep?" "No." "Feeling the pressure of what you have to do?" "I do." "I could tell you it's going to be easy, but I would be lying to you." "That's... not very helpful." "I know, but, hey, remember this, only half of your family is this messed up, for me it's my whole family... I mean... my ;parents weren't exactly the best parents... At least we don't have to deal with them, huh?" "I... yes, I guess." Kronos, the father of the Gods had eaten all his children as soon as they were born, this meant Hestia had spent quite some time in her father's stomach, being the eldest of the Gods. I couldn't imagine what that was like... and I couldn't imagine how such events could still make you a Goddess that stood for family... that watched over families. "Your father..." "He was a cruel man." "I... have heard, yes." "Zeus got lucky, mother hid him away so father couldn't eat him. Then we all had to wait for him to grow up and get strong enough to overthrow our father. Of course... we all remained in his stomach... where every day was a torture..." "You couldn't die..." "No, but the stomach acids of my father still hurt... our flesh melted and regenerated every day... at least every day, I'm not quite sure really..." "That sounds... awful." "It was... and when our dad spit us out it went in reversed order, which means, of course, that I came out last." "That's..." "Horrible? Yes, but at least I was free. My body healed itself and I could finally take a bath to get rid of the stench of my father's stomach. So... if you think the task that's ahead of you is hard... just be glad you don't have to deal with such monsters as the titans." "Yes... I... I will be." "Good."

Well, that story certainly didn't help me sleep. On the contrary, I laid awake for a while longer, and when I finally fell asleep my dreams were about being eaten and living inside someone else's stomach. About the burning pain stomach acid causes. The next morning I woke up feeling like I hadn't slept at all. I yawned quite a lot that day, during breakfast with my Hestia, my mother, my aunt Menalippe, Arthur and Bruce. On our way to the submarine, which had been left somewhere on the beach. And while we were on said submarine on our way back to Greece.

"This thing looks... strange on the inside... stranger even than it did on the outside," Hestia said as she was inspecting the inside of the submarine. "This thing is called a submarine and it's supposed to look like this." Bruce said to her. "A submarine?" "It's like a ship, but it moves underwater instead of on the surface." "Why?" "Well, it makes it harder for you to be spotted." "Poseidon won't be fooled by this." "It's.... it's not meant to fool Poseidon." "Then... who?" "Your enemies." "And... they haven't found any way to... find those submarines?" "Well... yes, it's called radar..." "Then what's the use?" "Well, you can use your own radar to fire at your enemies." "But if you don't want your enemies to find out where you are, why would you fire at them? And what do you fire at them. I assume it's not arrows." "No... it's... doesn't matter, the point is, they can't find you if they're dead." "Why would you kill them?" "Because otherwise they'll kill you." "Why would they want to kill you?" "Because they're your enemies." "Why do you make enemies? Do you have a lot of enemies with one of those submarine things?" "No..." "Then why do you have one?" "So... my enemies can't find me." "But you just said-," "I think they're cool, okay?" "I........... guess."

The submarine got pushed off the beach and into deeper water by the Amazons, then we submerged and went on our way to Greece. Where we would make our way back to Athens, where we would devise our plan as to finding the other Gods. That was probably going to take a while, but for now we were on a submarine on our way back to Greece. It was strange how it was actually a way back to Greece for all of us, for even Hestia had lived in Greece... which of course makes sense, since the Greeks used to worship her in ancient times. She had lived there on Olympus.. you know, there is one thing about this mountain that I don't get. The Greeks always said that their Gods lived there, and well... it was true, but, they never checked. It was a perfectly climbable mountain, but no one ever checked if the Gods actually lived there.

"So, we're going to Athens?" Hestia asked us. "Yes," I answered. "Hmmm... it's the Greek capital now, isn't it?" "It is indeed." "Athena will be pleased by that." Bruce sighed. He chose not to believe that the Greek Gods had come back. He thought that all the Amazons, probably including me, were going delirious and that Hestia was some kind of witch. I didn't blame him, it was quite crazy. Arthur however, he did believe us, and he wasn't very happy about Poseidon returning. "How big is the chance that that man is going to order me to obey him?" He asked Hestia. She shrugged, "Well, the chance is there, but it probably depends on his mood, really." "That's not a very clear answer." "I know... it's been thousands of years since I have seen my family, okay? Even Gods can forget." "I... see... I'm sorry. I just want to make sure that my kingdom is still mine to rule." "Don't worry, the Atlanteans have... been around for about as long as the Amazons. Poseidon... has coexisted with them..." "Are you sure of that?" "I think." "You think?" "It's... well that's all I got for you, like I said, it's been a while." Arthur sighed, "That's just great..." "Let her be," I said to him. "Huh?" "She doesn't like this either, Arthur." He looked at Hestia, who really didn't look very happy about any of this. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

The rest of our trip back to the mainland was... pretty silent. No one talked and Hestia just... looked unhappy. I wondered why that was, but I didn't want to break the silence by asking her. Besides, that would also bring it to the attention of Arthur and Bruce and it was probably too... private for that. I decided it would be better to ask her about it later. Like, when we were alone.

However, it took quite long before we were actually alone together, for it took us quite some time to get to Athens. And when we finally got there we had to find a hotel to spend the night. Luckily all Bruce had to do was give them his name and they would give him two of the best rooms they had left without further questions. Of course Bruce didn't really like that he had to share a room with Arthur, and neither did Arthur, but well... neither Hestia nor I wanted to share a room with either of them either, so they were stuck together... It's a... gender thing I think. Sometimes it doesn't work against women.

"Well... here we are," I said when Hestia and I were standing in our room, looking around at what it had to offer. Most space was taken up by a couch, there was a small kitchen, which was mostly a refrigerator and some cabinets, there were two doors that led to two other rooms. In front of the couch there was a little table, and a small cabinet on which a TV stood. "This is where humans go when they're not at home?" Hestia asked me. "Sometimes, there are worse places to stay." "I guess..." "There are, believe me." "Have you ever been to some of those "worse places"?" "I have, yes," I said as I looked behind one of the doors. There was a big bathroom behind it. "This is far from bad, really. Sure, it's not as great as Themyscira, but... it'll do." "I guess. I do however have one very important question." "And that is?" "Where in this place is the hearth?" "The... hearth?" "Yes, I'm sure you're familiar with them." "I am... it's just... uh.. humans don't use hearths anymore." "Excuse me?" She looked a little surprised. "They use central heating now... it's basically hot water that's pumped through their houses so the heat gets everywhere... and it's less dangerous." "Less dangerous... if you properly take care of your hearth it's not dangerous at all." She looked a little angry now, "Replacing me with Poseidon, huh?" she whispered. She was glowing a little, as if she herself were a hearth. I had a feeling that if she would get angrier she would actually turn into one. "If it makes you feel better... some people still have hearths..." This did seem to calm her down, "They do?" "Yes, they do sometimes use them for warmth, but... well it's mostly because people think it looks pretty." "Pretty..." she mused, "yeah, hearths are pretty. I can live with that."

We looked behind the other door, where we found a big bedroom with two beds. "Hmmmmm... looks... strange," Hestia commented. "I think the word you're looking for is modern." "More like empty." "Well, it's basically the same thing." "I see, well it seems that houses have become less homey over the centuries. That's what you get without a hearth." She shrugged. "Uh... I guess." "It's true. A hearth makes a house a home?" "Doesn't family do that?" "Hmmmm... okay you might have a point there. What are those things?" She walked over to the nightstand next to one of the beds and picked up the lamp. "What does this do?" She switched the button and turned on the lamp. "Oh, how delightful, is there some sort of magic candle inside of this... thing?" "No, that's a lamp, it runs on electricity." "What's electricity?" "Well... I guess... uh... you know lightning right?" "Of course I do, my brother likes to toss it around when he's throwing a temper tantrum." "Well... I guess you could call it... domesticated lightning..." "Aaaah, okay," she said as if that statement made sense." "Yeah, it's... you really missed a lot in the last... what? 5000 years." "I guess so yes." "Well, we should sleep." "Indeed we should."

That night we talked only a little, about our family mostly. "So... what are they like?" I asked Hestia. "What are who like?" "Our family... the Olympians..." "Well... They're not the closest family... far from. I mean, some of them really kind of hate each other." "Like Athena and Poseidon?""Yes, and only because of the opinion of some mortals. It's quite silly really,but I guess Poseidon's ego is just easily damaged. Of course Hephaestus hates Hera cause she threw him off Olympus only because she thought he was ugly, which is a way better reason in my opinion. I mean, even if he's ugly, he's still your child. Then again, he doesn't really like Aphrodite either because she cheats on him, also a good reason." "So... it's basically one big mess?" "Yes,you could say that." "Well... that's gonna be fun." "Hey, at least your family from your mother's side is nice. And even your family from your father's side isn't all bad. Artemis is a nice girl. And Athena really isn't bad either." "I see." "This takes as much getting used to for you as it does for me, doesn't it?""I... think so." "I mean, I have to get used to about 5000 years of industrial development, whereas you have to get used to several deities being your family.And then it turns out that it's quite a messed up family with what can only be described as a lot of issues." "Yes, it's quite strange. But that last part must be hard on you too... isn't it?" "Hmmmm?" "The issues, the hate between family members. I mean, you are the Goddess of family as well as the Goddess of the hearth." She sighed, "Yes, it's hard, but... you know, after giving up my Olympian status for Dionysus... I don't think they ever really took me serious after that..." "That... must hurt" "Yeah... it does."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I feel like this fic really kinda sucks, also, for some reason Wattpad, yes I copy this all from my very own Wattpad account so I don't have to get all weird with the paragraphs, easier for me, likes to make words stick together in the last paragraph for some reason. So that's fun... not, so if some words in other paragraphs stick together as well... just remember it's Wattpad being a little bitch. Thank you


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